Naruto: Fate's Bane
by SomeRandomBagel
Summary: At the end of the war, Naruto and Shikamaru are the only ones left. Given a choice by Kurama, they decide to go back before they finished the academy to defeat the Akatsuki and stop Project Tsuki no Me. Time Travel. Hiatus until at least 19th June 2015.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

Standing side by side, Naruto and Shikamaru look over the remnants of the battleground where most of the battles have been fought over the last 3 years. A battle-hardened Naruto stands and reflects on these times where they were not fighting, such as mastering the **Flying Thunder God **which his Dad was famous for, or the manifestation of his Mother's **Chakra Chains **helping him with long and short ranged combat even more than before.

Sighing, Naruto turns to look at his companion. "We need to go look in Konoha or any of the other villages, there may yet be survivors there".

Shaking his head Shikamaru answers "No, the Jūbi's branches spread out and took the chakra from the civilians and shinobi alike, the fact that everybody in Konoha were reserves and not in the vicinity of your chakra meant that they will have fallen to the Jūbi nearly instantly, we only survived this long because of Kurama".

Naruto frowns, realising that they are more than likely the last two people alive in the Elemental Nations. Musing on the next course of action that should be taken a voice Naruto has grown familiar with sounds inside of Naruto's mind **'Naruto there is one solution to the problem the Jūbi has created. I know a seal from just after the age of Endless war when I will still a baby fox which the Old Man created in case of this outcome happening again. I can take you and your clever companion back to the second day of your last year of the academy'.**

Mood already brightening, Naruto enters his mindscape to confront the chakra construct about this seal. "How do I do this and what is the full list of results?" Upon hearing this question Kurama smirks, **"Well you and the Nara will go back in time, however you will also keep all of your chakra that you have inside of you at this moment of time. This does include all of my chakra, of which we got back my Yin half from your Father just before Orochimaru cancelled the Edo Tensei. All of my chakra will merge with your chakra however, creating an amount of Chakra which has only been seen in the Old Man, Me, the Jūbi and the Rabbit Goddess. This chakra will also be purple rather than the usual blue for humans and more potent than usual chakra as it is a mixture of Bijū and human chakra. Another effect is that you will keep your current level of chakra control as that is more to do with the mind than with your physical body. Keep in mind that you will be back in a child's body however and will have to hone your bodies again, you should probably get help from the green taijutsu master Gai for a training regiment".**

Naruto breathes a sigh of relief, having to reign in that much chakra would have been a disaster. Agreeing with the statement about Gai-sensei, Naruto nods before steeling himself and turns to look Kurama in the eye "How do I make this seal?" he asks. Seeing that Naruto has made his decision, Kurama projects the memory to Naruto allowing him to see how to create the seal. Upon seeing this Naruto smiles slightly before leaving his mindscape and motioning to Shikamaru that he needs to talk.

"Shika, Kurama has given me a method for us to go back in time with our memories, current chakra and chakra control". Shikamaru's eyes widen at hearing this and straightens out his posture, listening attentively to what Naruto has to say. "We will be put back into our old bodies at the beginning of our last school year, which should give us ample time to hone our physical strength before we get onto our teams. I am going to get one from Gai-sensei". At that name the lazy Nara pales and decides that he will get some help from a less crazy stamina freak like Gai. "I just have to create the seal and we will appear in our old classroom. Well you will, I was doing a prank at this time on the ANBU headquarters".

Quickly creating the seal with chakra in the air before slamming his hand down onto the ground, Naruto motions for Shikamaru to come and stand on the seal. Grabbing hold of his arm, Naruto activates the seal and begins to feel himself being pulled into the seal and through time. Seconds before being pulled through near hears Kurama **'I will not be pulled through as well, this is because I will be absorbed by you during the transference to the past. Farewell Naruto, it has been fun'**. Then, everything goes white for Naruto and Shikamaru.

* * *

**Naruto's Apartment**

* * *

Waking up, Naruto notices that he is back in his old apartment and small again. Leaping to his feet with a beaming smile on his face, he quickly runs to his window to find the Hokage's Mountain with old three faces. Taking a moment to sit down, Naruto focuses on his own chakra. Realising that he hasn't actually unlocked his chakra yet as that was something he did at the end of the first week of his last year under Iruka-sensei's watchful eye, Naruto sighs and decides that he should wait until he is in class to unlock his chakra, so that he doesn't surprise anybody when the amount of chakra he has is shown.

Walking over to look outside again, he notices that the sun is slowly going up and recognises the time as around 8:30am. Realising that Kurama's time was slightly out as it is the beginning of the day that he will unlock his chakra, Naruto sets out to go and sit on top of the stone head of his Father. Upon reaching the top of the head, Naruto thinks about all that has passed since he was last here and in the academy. The war, Pein's attack on Konoha, Jiraiya's death, Sasuke's abandonment of Konoha. They can change everything.

Looking at the sun, Naruto sets out to get to the academy on time today, he does want to unlock his chakra on the correct day. Jumping to his feet, Naruto is about to leave when somebody calls out to him. "Naruto!" Turning around, Naruto see's Shikamaru and waves back "Shika, what brings you're here?"

Upon Naruto's question Shikamaru looks at Naruto and replies "Why do you think I'm here Naruto, I decided that I should get up early and come sit on the monument…"

Naruto smiles sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck "Yeah yeah, anyway we need a plan of action, we haven't seen anybody for at least a month as they ended up being caught in the finally attack Madara launched on the United Shinobi Forces". Musing Naruto thinks of a good course of action. "We will probably need to have at least one adult who remembers with us. Otherwise some of our actions may be seen as risky, therefore it would be good if they were a higher up. Honestly only Jiji and your Father fit the bill with this".

Thinking this over Shikamaru turns to look over the village he has come back to save "We shouldn't do anything yet. Telling somebody while still in the academy might change things too much, we should try and keep a resemblance to the original timeline at least, otherwise our knowledge, while still worth a lot experience-wise, is that as good as if we flaunted our power. Not to mention we may be thought of as imposters. Although if we get the chance then we should kill somebody who is part of the Akatsuki, other than Itachi and Pein, or Orochimaru and Kabuto. I believe it would be best for you to talk to the Sandaime about this after you graduate, until then we should keep our scores about the same".

Smiling Naruto replies "I have a plan for when I 'steal' the Forbidden scroll, I'm going to look through all the details in the scroll and then make a **Kage Bunshin** copy of it so that I can learn all of the possible jutsu's from scroll, I may also sneak into the Hokage's jutsu storage so that I can get some Uzumaki sealing resources. They were destroyed last time during the Pein attack, this time however I can use them as they have Uzumaki blood seals on them for each use to stop non-Uzumaki's from being able to break into them".

Smiling at the thought of his ancestors, Naruto sits down and breathes in the morning air of September before stand up, stretching and turning to face Shikamaru. "Shika, we should head to the academy today, I'm going to activate my chakra with the supervision of Iruka today and class starts in about 15 minutes". Starting to walk down the path from the Yondaime's head, Naruto turns with a serious gaze. "We won't fail anybody this time, especially Gaara. I'll change him again, just watch me".

Arriving at the classroom with time to spare, Naruto sits in the top right corner, after setting up a prank for Mizuki of course. Smiling, Naruto focuses on accessing his mindscape, unsuccessfully however. He muses that he probably has to unlock his chakra if he wants to access it. Waiting for the people in his class and Iruka-sensei to arrive, Naruto sets about communicating in the special code that he and Shikamaru made up while they were alone over the month to pass time.

As Iruka walks into the classroom, Naruto has to fight back tears, remembering what he said on the day that Naruto found out about Kurama. He then has to fight a growl as Mizuki enters the classroom after him, wanting nothing more than to deal with him right now, but knowing that the best course of action would be for him to wait until he steals the forbidden scroll. Zoning back in as Iruka starts he listens to what he says intently, while looking as if he wants to escape. "Hello class, today we are going to go outside and try and unlock our chakra, if you haven't already. Then we will work on the three academy jutsu's before coming back inside to learn about the Third Hokage".

Iruka stops talking motions towards the door before waiting to make sure all his students walk through the door. Looking around, he searches for his favourite student, Naruto Uzumaki. Even though he is the container of the Kyūbi, Iruka knows that Naruto is not the beast, he is the jinchūriki, living every day to keep the monster at bay from destroying Konoha. Finding Naruto at the back of the class, being quiet and not as loud as he normally is, he wonders what has brought on this change.

Just as he is about to ask hit face turns into pure delight as a shout was heard outside. Looking Iruka sees the sight of a pink haired Mizuki, looking around trying to pin who the culprit was. Quickly turning back to Naruto he sees the same look of indifference on his face. _'Sneaky little devil' _Iruka thinks, knowing that that is just a ruse to not get in trouble. _'I'll let him get away with it this time'_. Inwardly Iruka is laughing hysterically, reminding him of his younger days.

Going outside, Naruto walks over to the swing and sits on it, waiting for the rest of the class to settle down so that he can access his chakra. Watching Iruka use his big head jutsu to quiet everybody down, he listens as Iruka explains how to unlock chakra. Pulling on the chakra within him, Naruto finds it and slowly allows it to pass into his coils, even though he could allow it all to flow instantly, this way it hurts his chakra coils less and it causes the chakra to be less noticeable at first. Around half an hour later everybody else is getting started on the leaf chakra exercise so that they can work on their chakra control, while Naruto is still slowly releasing his chakra into his coils.

Seeing Naruto supposedly struggling Iruka looks at him with wonder, he would have thought being a jinchūriki, Naruto would have had an easy time accessing his chakra. Unfortunately for them, some other people saw that Naruto was 'taking a while' to access his chakra and decided to make fun of him for it, seeing as his parents hate Naruto anyway. "Hah! Loser Naruto can't access his chakra! But it's so easy how could you not, idiot".

Sighing Iruka is about to have a word with the student before Naruto speaks up. "Actually I've just been allowing my chakra to slowly fill my coils, but if you want me to release it all I will". With a mischievous glint in his eye, Naruto allows all his chakra to run freely. The rush of chakra burns inside his coils slightly, but due to his pain tolerance he can hardly feel it. The oppressive chakra however, causes everybody except from Shikamaru, Iruka and Mizuki too nearly faint, and some of the fan girls in the class too actually faint.

Mouth gaping, Iruka looks at Naruto with wide eyes, using his chakra sensing abilities. Sensing his chakra he feels overwhelmed, he has not ever seen anything or anybody with this much chakra. Not even the Kyūbi! Composing himself, he realises that Naruto knew he had this much chakra the whole time and just didn't want to cause a scene. Laughing, he realises that Naruto just pranked everyone again. The little devil.

Seeing everybody's shocked looks, Shikamaru allows himself to look smug and lies back against a tree, pretending to have fainted from the chakra which was released by Naruto. Already knowing much more advanced things than what they are learning here, he allows himself to relax. Spreading out his senses, he reaches for his Father and Mothers chakra signatures to relax him, knowing that they are still alive.

The rest of the day went slowly, with Iruka helping the class with the academy jutsu. Moving back inside, he did his lesson on the Sandaime, with input from Naruto at often intervals. He presumed it was because of Naruto's goal of being the Hokage, although that was not the actual truth, he really knew it from talking to the **Edo Tensei** Hiruzen about his time during all of the Shinobi wars and under the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage's as a pupil.

Stepping outside after the day of school finished, Naruto sets about using the **Transparency Jutsu** and goes into the Hokage's jutsu storage room. Knowing the guard rotations and how to block his Jiji's crystal ball, Naruto quickly gets in, takes the Uzumaki fūinjutsu scrolls, before leaving and taking down the jutsu. Quickly getting home, while getting some high-quality brushes, fūinjutsu scrolls and ink under henge of a generic Konoha ninja.

Quickly unsealing the blood seal on the Uzumaki fuinjutsu, Naruto opens the first book of Uzumaki Fūin Level 1. Opening the first page, Naruto looks at the contents. His eyes open wide at what he finds before he quickly reads through it, creating twentry Kage Bunshin, 10 to transform into the book. His face breaks out into a massive smile. The first seal in the book was jūinjutsu removal.

Quickly leaving his house after setting his bunshin to work, he sets out to find Shikamaru and tell him of the news he just found. Quickly using the shushin over to his favourite cloud gazing spot, he spots him lying on the grass alone with his eyes closed. Jumping down he taps him on the shoulder, getting Shikamaru to open one eye.

"What?" Shikamaru enquires, wondering what got the blond jinchūriki so wound up that he would come to interrupt his precious cloud watching.

"I took the Uzumaki fūinjutsu books from level 1 to 10, and the first thing in the level 1 book is jūinjutsu removal". Eye's widening, Shikamaru realises the implications that this could have on many people, such as Anko and Sasuke, if he removed their cursed seals, then it is possible that Sasuke will never go to Orochimaru and that Anko can have a proper growth rate again, without the seal impeding her at every turn.

Sitting up, Shikamaru yawns. "You might as well come and stay at my house today, play some Shogi with me or something. My Father and Mother don't care, as they are clever enough to know that you are not Kurama and it will allow us to show some friendship so that it is not odd if we start hanging around with each other more". Opening his mouth to protest Naruto is cut off "This is not a choice, it's happening".

Sighing in defeat, Naruto follows Shikamaru as he leads his way back to the Nara clan heads house. Using his sensing abilities, Naruto senses the feel of the chakra around him. Inside of the streets the feeling is a mixture of lots of emotions from different shinobi, however as he nears the area where the Nara's reside, he can feel the lazy, yet sharp chakra that emits from most of the clans members.

Knocking on the door, Shikamaru announces that he is home. "I'm back Mom, Dad. I brought a friend with me".

With that Naruto hears a clattering of metal, probably some cutlery or a pan, and the pattering of feet before a woman in her early 40s makes her appearance through the door. Eyes widening, she recognises Naruto before turning to her son "Shikamaru! I told you to put your shoes to the side when you enter the house, how many times?"

Snickering at his expense, Naruto nearly doesn't spot the approach of Shikaku. Upon walking into the room, Shikaku's last expectation was to see the blond jinchūriki of the Kyūbi. Smiling slightly at the sight of his son making friends with the second Uzumaki troublemaker, Shikaku lazily waves. "Hello there Naruto, what brings you to here?"

Scoffing, Naruto takes on a mischievous glint in his eye. Turning back to Shikaku with a look that resembled Kushina about to cause some problems, he replies "This lazy idiot forced me, something about it being too troublesome for me to walk all the way home at this time and something about his mother".

Seeing his son yelp slightly before paling at the sight of his Mother, Shikaku bursts out laughing while his son gives him a chilling glare before turning it on Naruto, who is also still in hysterics.

After the laughter stops, Shikaku looks at the jinchūriki, noting not just the way that he moves is like a shinobi who is seasoned and has seen war, but the way that his son does the same thing as Naruto and how he seems to flank Naruto, as if Naruto was the Hokage or a person of a higher power. Making a mental note to check on this later, he decides to go and tell the Hokage what he just saw, and what he should do.

Watching as his Father excuses himself, saying that he has to meet Inoichi and Choza to catch up, Shikamaru turns to Naruto. "Father has already caught on that something is different from the way we walk and the way I unconsciously flanked you, he's going to go and tell the Hokage what happened and whether he should play closer attention to us or to just leave us be".

Naruto considers these words and thinks of a plan of action that he would take. "I think we should mess with your Dad for a while". Shikamaru's previously worried expression becomes one of exasperation.

"Fine. Fine, we can mess with him, but if we get caught, it's your idea. I don't want to be seen during this, that would be way to troublesome" states Shikamaru.

"We should just do things like walk up walls, or act like you're the Hokage, it will make him intrigued enough to tell the Hokage, but not enough that we will be pulled into the TI department, I don't want to deal with Anko and Ibiki".

Shuddering at the thought of being pulled into interrogation, Naruto and Shikamaru end their shogi match (with Shikamaru winning) and go up to Shikamaru's room to start planning what they will do now they are back in time.

* * *

**Hokage's Office**

* * *

Knocking on the door to the Hokage's office, Shikaku waits to be allowed in by the Sandaime's secretary. Upon entry, Shikaku stands in front of the Hokage. "Lord Hokage, there is some strange... circumstances that I wanted to tell you about involving Naruto, and my own son Shikamaru".

Upon hearing that Shikaku has come to him regarding Naruto, he unconsciously glares slightly. "And these circumstances would be?" he asks.

Straightening up under his Hokage's gaze, Shikaku answers "The way they acted, to anybody wouldn't be noticeable, but it was like they were seasoned shinobi acting like they were not. Shikamaru also walked in front of Naruto slightly, flanking him as if he was his leader".

Taking a drag of his pipe, Hiruzen muses on this information "Either they are spies, which is very unlikely since we have seen Naruto's seal recently, or they are hiding something from us".

As Shikaku is about to reply, there is a knock on the Hokage's door. "Enter", the Hokage says before his secretary enters the room.

"Chūnin Iruka Umino is here. He says he is coming to you about the academy student Naruto Uzumaki". Upon hearing that name the Hokage straightens out his back and motions to his secretary.

"Bring him in, it may help what we are talking about ourselves". After being told to let Iruka in, the secretary goes to let the academy teacher into the office, while the Hokage and Shikaku wonder what could have happened at the academy that means that Iruka has come to tell the Hokage.

Upon entering the room, Iruka bows, "Lord Hokage" he chants to the leader of the village. Upon seeing Shikaku in the room he is about to speak up before the Sandaime silences him.

"It's okay, Shikaku came here with the same reason as you, Naruto". After hearing this, Iruka's question dies on his lips. Being motioned to continue, Iruka explains, " It's the amount of chakra he has that I came to discuss".

After hearing this, Shikaku asks, "What would the problem with the amount of chakra he has be? I understand that he has about the amount of chakra that a Jōnin would normally have, however that is easily explained in a way that you know how".

Sighing slightly, Iruka answers, "While it seems that way, Naruto seems to be able to instinctively suppress his chakra level to an alarming degree". Inhaling, then exhaling, Iruka continues "He has more chakra than I think even the Kyūbi had when it attacked. He has at least the amount of chakra to rival the Kyūbi and a lesser tailed beast such as the Nibi combined!"

Eye's widening, the Sandaime asks Iruka, "That is impossible, are you sure about what you felt? Nobody in the village felt it and nobody should be able to have that much chakra anyway! Even with Naruto's... condition".

With a grim look on his face Iruka answers, "I'm sure of it, he definitely has that much chakra".

Sighing, Hiruzen turns to look over his village created by his mentor the Shodaime, Hashirama. "The only people I know who even came close to that amount of power were the Shodaime, Nidaime and Madara Uchiha. The fact that Naruto has that much chakra and can hide it to Jōnin levels is a scary thought. The amount of power he could wield in a few years is immense".

Iruka then turns to Hiruzen, "The only thing I don't get is why he couldn't do the **Bunshin no jutsu** after he unlocked his chakra today, everybody else in the class could at least do it to an acceptable level, but Naruto's bunshin just fell over and died".

Frowning at this, Hiruzen ponders over this fact "It may be necessary to allow Naruto to learn a different type of bunshin rather than make him learn how to use the original bunshin. We might have to teach him a more chakra extensive one, such as the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** and its more chakra intensive counterpart the **Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"**.

Pondering over this decision, Shikaku gives his input on the idea, "While I agree that this is a good idea, I think that maybe you should just give him chakra control exercises to see if he can indeed get the normal bunshin down, so as to not show favouritism, however if he still can not do the **Bunshin no Jutsu** by the week before the exam then you should teach him the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** therefore meaning that he gets not only gets better chakra control, but also you do not show favouritism until the people who don't like Naruto can do nothing about it".

Nodding at the wise words of Shikaku, the Hokage turns back to Iruka, "Next time to see Naruto, tell him to come and see me, I know that he comes and see's me often anyway but it would be best if you can get him to come to me as soon as possible".

At this Shikaku speaks up, "If I may Lord Hokage". Upon seeing Hiruzen's nod, Shikaku carries on. "Naruto is currently at my house with my son Shikamaru, I can tell him myself tomorrow when they wake up".

Musing over this information, Hiruzen nods, "Very well, it would probably be best for you to tell him to meet me here when he can tomorrow, preferably after the academy. Is there any other information you need to give me?" Seeing his subordinates shake their heads, Hiruzen dismisses them. Leaning back into his chair, he ponders over the enigma which is Naruto Uzumaki. Shaking his head he turns back to his paperwork, hoping to finish it off for the night and go home.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

* * *

Upon waking, Naruto stretches. Remembering that they are back in the future, he smiles before getting to his feet and looking over at Shikamaru. Seeing that he is still asleep and that the academy starts in 30 minutes he gains a devious smile. Quickly using the **Henge no jutsu**, Naruto transforms into Yoshino Nara and quickly shouts at Shikamaru to get up. Startled, Shikamaru jumps backwards before panicing at the sight of his mom. At this, Naruto starts laughing, changing from his transformation before talking. "We have 30 minutes until we have to be in class, which means I have about 2 hours and you have to be there or your Mum will kill you".

Groaning, Shikamaru slumps his shoulders, watching Naruto go out of his room, before changing. After he is finished, Shikamaru goes downstairs and sits down at the table in their dining room with his Mother, Father and Naruto. "Naruto, the Sandaime wants you to go meet him after the academy today".

Startled by this revelation, Naruto nods before mulling over what his Jiji wants with him. Finishing his food, Naruto nods to Yoshino and says "Thank you for the food".

Smiling Yoshino replies "It was no problem, at least Shikamaru got up today. It normally take him hours". Mumbling the last bit to herself, she stands up before mentioning "You're welcome any time Naruto".

Thanking the Nara's again, Naruto exits the house with Shikamaru. Upon leaving he turns to his companion and states "I'm going to skip class for a bit today and work on the Uzumaki fūinjutsu I have in the level 1 book. I want to get the jūinjutsu removal down before the end of today by making some of my own curse marks on my clones to remove".

Confused by that piece of information Shikamaru questions Naruto, "Your own curse marks Naruto? Those are dangerous and are evil creations why have you got your own curse marks?"

Explaining Naruto replies, "I made a small one that doesn't do anything to the person it is used on but it can only be removed in the same way as Orochimaru's which means that it is a perfect way to practise using jūinjutsu removal from the book. I would never make something as twisted as Orochimaru's curse mark". Shuddering at the thought of such twisted fūinjutsu, Naruto turns away from Shikamaru, "I'll see you later when Iruka inevitably pulls me back to class after realising I'm not just late".

Naruto jumps up onto the nearest house before leaping his way across the village and straight into his open window. "Now then lets get started..." Putting up a privacy seal before summoning up 10 clones, Naruto sets about 5 of them to put the curse mark on the other clones before practising the jūinjutsu removal so that there are no drawbacks to using it other than chakra exhaustion.

Turning back to his book, Naruto reads the name of the next chapter out loud. "Uzumaki Barrier's through the use of Chakra Chains". Realising that this section would be perfect for him through the use of the chains he inherited from his mother, Naruto quickly gets to work reading through them starting with the first one in the chapter, **Adamantine Sealing Chains Barrier**.


End file.
